


A Heart Fulfilled

by Mendeia



Series: Proximity to Balance [7]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Fluff, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-19
Updated: 2013-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-12 08:23:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/809415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mendeia/pseuds/Mendeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there is something more to be feared than Duo Maxwell with an Idea, it is Duo Maxwell with an Idea and Quatre Raberba Winner determined to make it happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Heart Fulfilled

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the lack of a post last weekend. It was my annual major weekend of choir concert-ness which results in 3 days of 14-hour whirlwinds of volunteering, setup, take-down, and singing in the actual concert. And then there's two days of sleeping. Here's a nice one to make up for it.
> 
> Also, there's no way this didn't happen, you guys. I'm just sayin'.
> 
> Enjoy!

If there is something more to be feared than Duo Maxwell with an Idea, it is Duo Maxwell with an Idea and Quatre Raberba Winner determined to make it happen. There is almost no limit to Duo's imagination, and definitely no limit to Quatre's willingness to see a project through regardless of necessary resources as long as he deems it worthy. If Duo and Quatre had had their way, all five of the pilots would be millionaires many times over – it was only the more prudent Wufei and Heero and Trowa who convinced Quatre not to indulge Duo and let him live off his Preventers pay. Besides, they rightly argued, if he kept the funds he would have put in their names, they would still have any access they wanted through him (and if anything happened to Quatre, Heero could hack the bank accounts directly), but it would be harder for any enemies to track them. Faced with such logic, Quatre had agreed.

But when Duo made an off-the-cuff comment about his life on the streets of L2, Quatre could not be swayed from the idea it generated. Of course, none of his friends would have wanted to talk him out of it. Even if they'd known about it.

Which is why, when Quatre invited the others on "not a mission, not exactly, well, you'll see," they were willing to trust him even if they had no idea what to expect. Quatre was a master manipulator, though he rarely used the talent on his friends. Prevaricating on Quatre's part signaled nervousness, not danger or uncertainty. (Unless he were really playing a game of the mind with them, in which case it was all hopeless anyway.)

So, one Saturday morning, four once-Gundam pilots found themselves in a limo driven by Rashid through the poorest area of L2. Quatre had gone on ahead, and had, as a parting shot, advised them to "dress for an outing, not a fight," which meant the four were not wearing their Preventers gear, but rather their most familiar civilian clothing. They were all armed, but that was a matter of course.

"Here you are!" Rashid said cheerfully, looking back at them as he came to a stop. "I hope you know how much this means to Master Quatre."

"No, we really don't," Heero practically grumbled. For once, he hadn't been able to hack the secrets out of Quatre's laptop, and he had been peeved ever since.

"Oh. Well, go on and see. It's starting already!"

Exchanging glances, the four young men piled out of the limo and looked around.

"Oh my god," Duo whispered before his throat closed up completely.

There was a press-conference happening in front of them, with Quatre front and center, looking every bit the corporate prince he was. Lights popped around him and he was making some kind of speech, but the words never reached Duo.

Behind the podium set up for the conference, a beautiful new building stood, practically shining in the dingy light of the L2 slum. It was several stories tall, built with broad windows all open to the breeze, and a garden was laid out in front. Near the roof of the building, a sign proudly declared "Maxwell Orphanage."

And connected by a walkway that was lined with flowers was the church Duo remembered so well, completely rebuilt, cleaner and more perfect than the original had ever been.

Duo stared, his mouth open and his eyes wide and too bright. Heero and Trowa both fought to keep their expressions neutral, too, both feeling that they might not have ever found their way into war had such a place been offered to them as children. Wufei was smiling slightly – this was an honorable and just use of the Winner fortune and he was very, very pleased to see it.

As Quatre finished his speech and the clapping began, a priest and a nun stepped forward to answer questions – obviously it was they who had been granted stewardship. But Quatre slipped from the reviewing stand and made his way to his friends.

"Do…you like it?" he asked, fidgeting as he never would before strangers. "I found the original blueprints for the church and had it rebuilt exactly except with a lot more safety in mind – better, sturdier materials, that kind of thing. The orphanage itself should house at least a few hundred children, and we're about halfway finished with building a school on the other side so they will get a real education as well as a home and…"

He seemed so worried, trailing off at the look on Duo's face, that Duo's resolve broke. And Shinigami, bringer of death, hellion of L2, threw his arms around his best friend and held him with all his strength, sobbing against his shoulder without a sound.

Quatre's arms came up to hold him, and he understood all of what Duo could not say. Understood that this gift was the healing of a wound that had plagued Duo from long before he had ever become Pilot 02. He let his friend cry, sensing the warmness and near-overflow of the emotions of Heero and Trowa and even Wufei around them as well.

And after a few minutes, when Duo had calmed himself, he met his gaze.

"I'm only sorry I didn't think to do it sooner," Quatre said softly. "But it does come with a price."

" _Anything_ ," Duo managed.

"There's already about twenty kids settling in now. The adults I hired are good, the best really, and they'll help them a lot. But the kids are going to need someone to talk to who really understands what they've been through. They're going to need a big brother, someone to show them how to live in a world away from what they've known, and how to teach new kids the same thing when the place starts filling up."

"Cat, you've got it," Duo swallowed the rest of his tears and grinned, looking at the other three. "And you guys will regret it if you don't come, too. I am not a one-pilot jungle-gym!"

"Of course we will," Heero said solidly.

And so the Maxwell Orphanage (connected to and run by the Maxwell Church and the Maxwell School) acquired five champions. The kids never knew much about where their "big brothers" Duo and Trowa and Heero and Wufei came from, and they learned to see Quatre as more than just the benefactor who had built their home, but they certainly saw a lot of them. Duo was around practically every week he could get away from Preventers, making friends and just being there as one who had gone through it all himself, leading by the example of a life made from nothing. Heero and Trowa often accompanied him, and the kids learned quickly that the silent pair had never really been children and so they delighted in teaching them children's games and children's ways as they discovered them for themselves. Wufei, strict but kind, was busier with Preventers but still made time to watch over the more frightened ones and give them a reassuring strength until they found their own. And whenever everything else allowed, Quatre, whom they came to call "Cat" because Duo did, was there with his gentle and loving heart that listened to each and every child no matter how trivial their fears.

The Gundams had fought for peace, but Quatre had heard Duo's wish, the wish they all shared, really, to do more than prevent war. They wanted to fix what was broken. They wanted to give others what they themselves had never known.

Together, they finally had that chance.


End file.
